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The Division of Justice (DOJ) on Friday charged 5 males from throughout the U.S. with working an internet “baby exploitation enterprise” referred to as “Greggy’s Cult,” that allegedly used Discord servers to terrorize, blackmail and coerce minors into “horrific acts of self-harm.”
The indictment unsealed by federal prosecutors costs 5 people with “conspiracy to supply baby pornography, conspiracy to obtain and distribute baby pornography, and conspiracy to speak interstate threats.”
Hector Bermudez, 29, of Queens, New York; Zachary Dosch, 26, of Albuquerque, New Mexico; Rumaldo Valdez, 22, of Honolulu, Hawaii; David Brilhante, 28, of San Diego, California; and Camden Rodriguez, 22, of Longmont, Colorado, had been arrested Tuesday shall be arraigned within the Japanese District of New York at a later date, in response to the DOJ.
Prosecutors described a “nightmarish platform on the web,” alleging that “Greggy’s Cult” carried out “wicked conduct” that included “repeatedly encouraging victims to kill themselves or encouraging them to insert family objects into their genitals or anus.”
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FBI director Kash Patel mentioned the 5 leaders of “Greggy’s Cult” “exploited, threatened and harassed” youngsters on on-line platforms. (Michael M. Santiago/Getty Photos)
“These 5 defendants allegedly focused susceptible youngsters and others by way of on-line platforms – they exploited, threatened, and harassed them, and inspired horrific acts of self-harm,” FBI director Kash Patel mentioned in an announcement. “The FBI is sending a message to these people concerned in felony exercise by way of violent on-line networks: you’ll be able to’t conceal within the shadows hovering over a keyboard – we are going to discover and maintain accountable those that take part in these unlawful and heinous acts.”
The indictment acknowledged that the defendants allegedly engaged within the “manufacturing and distribution of kid intercourse abuse materials” between January 2020 and January 2021, and likewise participated in different types of “exploitation and harassment” of each minors and adults.
In response to prosecutors, the defendants and different members of “Greggy’s Cult” met on Discord servers and “directed minor victims, who had joined a video name on both Discord or one other video conferencing platform, to have interaction in sexually express or different degrading conduct.”
U.S. Lawyer Normal Pam Bondi (L) and FBI director Kash Patel introduced Dec. 2 that 5 males have been charged with main a “baby exploitation enterprise.” (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Photos)
The group can be accused of discovering victims on gaming platforms resembling Roblox and Counter-Strike: World Offensive.
The cult members allegedly captured screenshots and display screen recordings of the “sexually express conduct” earlier than sharing it to different Discord servers and with one another, in response to the DOJ.
Lawyer Normal Pam Bondi reacted to the indictment, stating that “no baby ought to ever be terrorized or exploited on-line, and no on-line platform ought to give refuge to predators.”
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Prosecutors mentioned the leaders of “Greggy’s Cult” met on Discord servers and directed minors to “interact in sexually express or different degrading conduct.” (Tiffany Hagler-Geard/Bloomberg by way of Getty Photos)
“The Division of Justice will proceed to guard youngsters, help survivors, and maintain accountable anybody who preys on the susceptible – on-line or offline – with each device we’ve got,” Bondi added.
Prosecutors additionally accused the defendants of extorting their targets, alleging that they tried to border the grownup victims as pedophiles or ship malware to minor victims, which was then used as “leverage to get the victims to have interaction in degrading acts on digicam.”
The defendants had been allegedly capable of persuade victims to commit acts of “degradation,” together with having them be “owned” by a member of the cult to show loyalty, or writing the names of cult members on their our bodies, which prosecutors known as “fansigning.”
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FBI director Kash Patel mentioned the bureau will maintain accountable anybody who’s concerned in violent on-line networks. (Getty Photos)
Performing Assistant Lawyer Normal Matthew Galeotti of the DOJ’s Prison Division mentioned in an announcement that the defendants had been charged with an “unspeakable act of coercing and blackmailing youngsters and adults to have interaction in self-harm and different degrading acts.”
U.S. Lawyer Joseph Nocella Jr. for the Japanese District of New York referred to as the alleged conduct “monstrous,” including that youngsters had been “at instances pushed to the brink of suicide.”
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The Division of Justice acknowledged that 5 males allegedly captured screenshots and display screen recordings of the “sexually express conduct” earlier than sharing it to different Discord servers and with one another. (FOX 2 Detroit)
The DOJ acknowledged that “Greggy’s Cult” fashioned earlier than the emergence of the “764” community, one other on-line child-exploitation group that the FBI has launched an intensified effort to take down.
Members of “764” allegedly use widespread on-line platforms resembling Discord, Telegram and Roblox to recruit and manipulate minors.
